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Yoko Kanno Makes Voice Cameo in Genius Party Beyond
posted on by Egan Loo
The official Japanese website for Studio 4°C's Genius Party Beyond anthology of film shorts has confirmed that composer Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne, Macross Plus and Frontier) made a voice-acting cameo in Kōji Morimoto's "Dimension Bomb" short. Although Kanno's music can be heard in dozens of anime projects, this is the first known anime voice-acting role that Kanno has taken.
The British electronic music group Juno Reactor is composing the music for "Dimension Bomb," although Kanno composed the music in the first Genius Party film's "Baby Blue" short from Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Macross Plus). Kanno did score Studio 4°C's experimental films Noiseman Sound Insect and perform on the soundtrack for Mind Game. Morimoto directed Noiseman and supervised some of the animation in Masaaki Yuasa's Mind Game. Also, Watanabe and character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto famously based the Cowboy Bebop character Ed on Kanno's personality.
Genius Party Beyond made its worldwide premiere in Washington, D.C. in a showing attended by Morimoto, Watanabe, and fellow director Mahiro Maeda ("Gala," The Animatrix's "Second Renaissance"). The film will open in Japan on October 11.
Update: Kanno performed on the soundtrack for Mind Game, but did not compose on it. Thanks, Cloe.
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